Breaking Even
by Splazin101
Summary: Wally West had troubles with bullies at school; specifically, a blond, grey-eyed girl that was particularly vicious to him in his adolescent years, until his transformation into Kid Flash. Now that Wally's joined the team, a certain archer reminds him of his old haunt, and he decides to balance the scales with her. AU, semi-Spitfire.
1. Prologue

Prologue

"Wally West, you get your skinny behind back here right now!" My friend John called after me, sprinting as fast as he could to catch up to me. I sighed, and kicked it into a higher gear, running as fast as I could. I glanced behind me once I had ran as far as my legs would take me to find John nowhere to be seen. I slowed down to a jog, and found a nice tall, green tree. I grabbed the lowest branch and hauled myself up, clambering slowly up to the highest branch that would hold me. Leaning against the massive trunk, I appraised my surroundings with my 8-year old eyes.

A lazy river drifted on its merry way a mile or so out, with a highway seemingly stapled to it, following it's every curve and bend. 'How I wish to run along that river, just like the Flash!' I thought, kicking my imagination into overdrive and watching trees, cars, cities, and countries blur by in seconds, feeling the imaginary pounding in my feet, in my head. I slumped against the trunk even more, slumping my head into my hands. I would never run that fast. All my life would amount to is some pencil-pushing job at your Average Joe corporation, doing taxes, getting married to a boring woman, having normal kids. Some may be satisfied with that, but no; not me, not Wallace Rudolph West. I'm destined for great things, I know it. No matter what that cruel Artemis says, I will be important.

The memory of Artemis' malicious taunts rip me from my daydreaming to a day-nightmare. My muscles tense and I tears start to form, before I quickly blink them back and swallow my feelings. Taunts of 'Useless', 'No-good', Pointless', 'Bastard', 'Failure', and 'Fuck-up' swirl endlessly in my head, threatening to drown the semi-good mood bestowed to me by the clear, sunny spring day. Her torturously beautiful face appear in my mind's eye, spitting insults at me and laughing as her and her friends push me to the ground.

I looked down and watched John down the path running next to the tree, calling my name and looking for me. I remained silent until he was out of sight, then slipped down the tree, and grabbed my backpack on the opposite side of the tree to the path, unnoticeable to my only friend. I slipped one strap over my shoulder, and trudged back to my house.

I slowly opened the front door and slipped inside my house, trying not to make a sound. I dropped my backpack quietly onto the floor, and softly but swiftly make my way to my room upstairs, and closed the door behind me. I grinned wildly when I saw the new chemistry set I had finally convinced my parents to order sitting on my desk, next to my electrical wiring kit hooked up to the car battery I'd found in my free time. I slammed myself into the chair and quickly ripped open the box, eager to get to the chemicals inside. I'd always been a bit of a chemistry freak; the idea of being able to create most any compound with a base set of elements always piqued my interest. In my excitement however, I ripped the package open so hard that the chemicals flew out, glass vials shattering, dousing me in a mix of chemicals. A wave of fear washed over me, and I fell backwards in my chair, pulling my desk and the electrical kit with me. I watched, almost in slow motion as I watched the positive and negative nodes of the battery fall towards me, and connect on my right forearm. I felt a massive jolt of pain, then nothing.

My eyes flew open, to be squeezed shut immediately after; ouch. Too much light. Too much pain. I groaned, opening my eyes a hair, making an attempt to see my surroundings. It looked… Like a hospital room? I opened my eyes more. Yep. Definitely a hospital room. I looked right and left, trying to see more. Oh great. Parents.

"Oh my god, he's awake. Nurse!" My mother called, staring at me in delight. My father on the other hand looked downright pissed.

"What happened?" I asked, my voice hoarse.

"Your new chemistry set drenched you in chemicals, and the car battery on your desk electrified you; we're not sure of the effects as of yet, but the doctors have noticed a drastic increase in your metabolism and heart rate."

"Oh boy." I sighed. "Will there be any permanent effects?"

"Like I said, honey. We don't know."


	2. Chapter 1

Seven years later…

I ran, ran, ran. The countryside flew by in a jumbled blur of colors and mismatched shapes; my feet pounded hard against the concrete of the highway. I looked over as I ran, and watched I passed whole lines of cars. Whooping out of pure excitement, I slipped another gear in and poured on the speed. All of a sudden, I looked to my right and saw a man in a scarlet spandex suit keeping pace, giving me the most inquisitive look. I saw the symbol on his chest and tripped. Hard. I recommend NOT tripping at 200mph, there tends to be a bit of backlash. I skipped like a stone over water along the highway, eventually rolling to a stop. I looked up and saw the Flash extending his hand towards me. I grasped it, and with his help, heaved myself upward.

"So, kid. I think we have a thing or two to talk about," The Flash started, as he pulled me to my feet. "First question; how did you get these powers?" My defiant side started to bubble forth.

"Why on Earth should I tell you?" I sighed, and held the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

"Kid, I'm part of the Justice League. We're kind of the ruling majority over meta-humans. Now, I like you; for the few minutes I've known you, you seem like a good kid. Here's some advice; tell me everything now, or to Batman in a few minutes. I promise he won't be nearly as nice."

"Fine. It was an accident; I spilled a chemistry set's worth of chemicals on myself, and was electrocuted by a car battery immediately after." The Flash tapped his foot against the pavement, and I ducked. Looking around, I realized there was, in fact, no machine gun, and it was just him.

"Alright, I guess I buy it. But, this is still an issue." He said, halting his foot.

"Uh… It is?"

"Yeah, kid. It is."

"How?" He sighed.

"Kid, I'm a powerful superhero. I can move faster than the human brain can track; the fact that an adolescent child can do the same thing is NOT a good thing. You're too… Impressionable. Please don't take this personally, but there's too much volatility in a rogue speedster, and I've witnessed firsthand the power of one with evil in his heart. I need to-"

"Wait a minute. You've seen an evil speedster? Who?" I asked, my The Flash trivia bubbling to the surface of my mind.

"Zoom." As the first syllable escaped his lips, an evil smile plastered to a face under a yellow cowl with red lightning bolts over the ears slipped into my mind. With it, a whole slew of other information returned, and I knew exactly who he was talking about.

"Zoom. Right." I said, looking down at my feet. "I'm not exactly trustworthy, because, you know, adolescent kid with superpowers, but I promise you, I will never be like Zoom. You can count on that."

"I'm glad to hear that, kid." Flash said, smiling warmly at me. "But, I still would like to train you."

"Ugh, why?" I moaned, slumping my shoulders.

"Kid, you know this is a huge burden to bear; more than the rest of the superheroes think. I just want to make sure you learn how to use your powers the right way."

"Well, when you put it that way… Fine. But, you need to talk my parents into it, and trust me; they aren't exactly the happiest about my powers."

"That's disappointing, but at the same time, I'm not surprised." I looked at him, shocked.

"Really? Why's that?"

"I can imagine you've become a bit of a burden. You probably have an accelerated metabolism, not to mention you blur around the house 24/7. Trust me, I used to do that."

"That's creepy, you just described me."

"Like I said; not surprised. In any case, onward! Take me to your leader!" Flash announced, pointing incriminatingly at me.

"You're crazy." I shot back, grinning at him wildly before tearing off towards my home.

A break in the line?

"No! Absolutely not!" My father roared at Flash and I after we presented our case.

"Rudolph, please thing rationally; it would be good for Wally to learn how to use his powers! We don't want an accident; not again." Mom said, clinging to Dad's arm like her life depended on it.

"Mary, this is ridiculous! Our son is fifteen, he can't be gallivanting off in flashy tights claiming to be protectors of the earth!"

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that last part. Superhero or not, your son needs someone to guide him." Flash responded, calmly.

"What, his own father can't guide him?" My father asked back, raising an eyebrow as if to challenge him.

"I'll believe you can guide him when you can beat him in a race."

"Fair enough. Fine, I give. Take him, make him better." I sighed, relieved that he had caved; and yet, his words stung. Flash shot me a sideways glance, obviously noticing.

"Thank you very much for letting me take your son under my wing; it means a lot that you would trust me like that." Flash stated, looking my father in the eye.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Dad responded, looking at anywhere but Flash and I.

"I… I guess we'll get going then." I mumbled. Running up to my room, I grabbed my emergency backpack, full with essentials, and zipped back downstairs and out the door.

"Aren't you going to say goodbye?" Flash asked, following me out.

"It wouldn't be goodbye, for me or for them. More like good riddance."


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N Hey guys! Here's another chapter! Not much to say, but I will have another A/N at the end, so watch for it!**

Two weeks later…

I groaned as light from the window glared in at me, as if ordering me to wake up. I told it to go fuck itself. Right as I was about to slip back into my abyss, a harsh knocking sounded on my door.

"KF!" I heard Rob's voice call out, continuing his obnoxious knocking. "KF, you need to get up, now! Breakfast is-" He never finished his phrase. By the time he hit the word breakfast, I was up, dressed in civvies, and ripped the door open. He smirked at me. "I knew breakfast would get you up."

"Damn right it would. What've we got for the day?" I growled, keeping in step with Rob as he made his way to the kitchen.

"The new kid's scheduled to show up today, and we're supposed to do training." I groaned at the mention of training.

"Shit, really? I fucking hate training."

"Why, cause you always get your ass handed to you?"

"Stuff it Rob, I'm untrained. I can't fight without my powers, and you know it. I don't know why Canary picks on me so much."

"You can't fight with them either." I shot daggers at him, but he continued. "Maybe because she cares about you, and doesn't want to see you killed?" I snorted.

"Unlikely, Boy Blunder." Rob shot me a look, but I kept talking. "I know I suck at fighting. I don't need you, or Canary to tell me that. I'm here because Flash wanted me to, and I owe that man a lot."

"KF, you've known the man for two weeks. How can you owe him so much?"

"When we go patrolling… Oh look, food!" I exclaimed, thankful that we arrived in the kitchen at such a perfect moment to dodge my permanent embarrassment. I zipped over to the counter and scooped up as much food as possible onto my plate, and hopped up onto the counter, chowing down.

"Ugh, KF. That's just nasty. You better not do that when the new kid shows up." Conner called from across the living room, taking a break from staring at his static television. I flipped him the bird and continued eating. A kid's gotta eat, and a male teen with a hyper-accelerated metabolism is no exception.

"So, Conner, who is this new kid we're getting?" I managed to get out between bites of food.

"Some archer girl. She's supposed to be really good, and apparently an archer is good for the team."

"How? We already have a Bat, a Martian, a Speedster, a half-Kryptonian, and an Atlantean. Do we really need an archer?"

"I guess so. I may be aggressive, Wally, but even I won't question Bats' orders." I let out a low whistle.

"Shit, she's being transferred in directly by Batman? That's pretty serious. Oh well, at least there'll be another girl for me to work my magic on." Conner rolled his eyes at me and turned back to his T.V, while I went back for seconds. Right as I was about to dig in again…

"Recognized- Green Arrow 08. Recognized, Artemis B07." Artemis… Wait, the new kid's name is Artemis?! Oh, I'm so going to have a field day with virginity jokes… I slipped one of my higher gears in and sprinted to the zeta landing room. Let me just say, Green Arrow will deny this, but their uniforms are too fucking green. It reminds me of broccoli and brussels sprouts and all that nasty shit that your parents force you to eat when you're being a bad kid at dinner. Green's a cool color, don't get me wrong, but there's something with a deep, violent red that just does it for me.

"You just gonna stand there and stare, KF? Or are you going to talk to the new kid?" Rob called from the little circle of secrets they had going by the teleporter. I glanced around and saw Batman and Green Arrow talking in hushed tones in the corner. Rolling my eyes, I slowly made my way over to my fellow teammates.

"Hey, new kid. I'm Kid Flash, at your service. You must be…" I let the thought trail off.

"Artemis. The team's archer." She replied curtly.

"So I gathered." I gestured at the bow and quiver on her back.

"Yeah, I'm sure you did." She shot back, rolling her eyes. The team laughed, and I just shook my head. A week into this shit and it's already just like public education. Here I thought people would be different, maybe treat me like a human for once. But, no. Butt of the joke, that's me! Aka Kid Flash, Aka Wally West, Aka every word that bitch used to describe me back in grade school. It's been so long that I've forgotten her name. It starts with A, I remember that, and she had these piercing grey eyes, and blond hair… Wait a minute. I glanced at the newbie and the resemblance was frightening, to say the least.

"Artemis. Where did you go to school when you were about eight?" I asked, startling the entire team with my random question.

"Uh, can I ask why?" She queried, taken aback by my slightly creeper-ish question.

"I'm just curious, you seem really familiar, but I can't seem to put my finger on it."

"Uh, Trail Wind Elementary. Somewhere in Nebraska, it's been a while. Recognize it?" I did.

"No, not at all." I replied curtly, a whirlwind of thoughts raging through my already accelerated mind. How could SHE be here?! Her! Harpy, She-devil, Evil incarnate. What possible deity could hate me enough to stick me on a superhero team with my bully from grade school? I mean, really?! Fuck. Fucking fuck fuck shit. "Did you know a kid named Wally when you went there?"

"I recognize the name." She responded, curtly.

"Alright, team," Batman interrupted, gruffly. "Time to train. Today will be an inhibited-powers training session, in order to adequately assess your fighting prowess on a more balanced scale. I want Superboy and Aqualad as one pair, Robin and Miss Martian as another, and finally Kid Flash and Artemis, I would like you to be sparring partners. No holds barred, do whatever you can to bring your enemy down." Batman passed out inhibitor collars to all of us but Robin and Artemis. I slipped mine on, and turned to face my partner. I looked her up and down, looking for obvious weaknesses. I rushed her, trying to get close. She sidestepped, but I saw it coming and grabbed her around the midriff, looping my other arm around to get a solid hold on her before twisting and dragging her to the ground.

"Artemis, Fail." The computer announced, and I rolled off of her.

"Well done, Kid Flash." Batman said, turning to face me. "You took the initiative well, and kept brought down a skilled opponent very quickly. I'm impressed, considering how long you've been on the team."

"I'm full of surprises, Bats. I may be untrained, but that doesn't mean I'm bad."

"I never said that, Kid."

"You don't have to say it, Bats, I know what you're thinking."

"Can't you just accept a complement, Kid Idiot?" Artemis asked, smacking me in the shoulder.

"In a word, no." I shot back, punching her in the shoulder in return. "Want to go two out of three?" I asked, beckoning to the hallway that lead to the training room.

"Sure, Flasher. Lead on." She replied, and so I did. I strode into the training room and pulled off my Flash t-shirt, leaving me in my shorts and with my inhibitor collar on. I clambered into the ring, and beckoned for her to join me. She pulled off her own top, leaving her in a sports bra and shorts of her own, and hopped into the ring with me. She dropped into a martial arts stance; I crouched, and beckoned at her with my hand to come at me; needless to say, she did. In the matter of a half-second, there was a foot flying at me. I crouched even lower before springing up, catching her off balance and knocking her to the ground; she was ready for it however, and rolled and sprang to her feet, wheeling on the balls of her feet to face me again. I grinned at her, rather pleased with myself for doing so well, as far as my skills were concerned. She just frowned and furrowed her brow, before shuffling forwards, right hook swinging. I managed to block it, but not the knee aimed at my chest; I doubled over, and before I knew it, she'd driven a swift kick to my shoulder and I was sitting on my ass.

"We're even, let's see who's better," I said, hopping to my feet.

"Lets" she replied curtly, before attempting a roundhouse kick at my chest; catching it with both hands, I twist and force her to the ground. Dropping her leg, I pounce onto her back, holding her down.

"I think that's three, babe." I say.

"Yeah, yeah, you won. Can you let me up now, hotshot?" She asks, adjusting her situation so she isn't face first into the mat.

"Mmmm, I dunno Arty, I kind of like this position" I whispered into her ear before latching onto her neck, nibbling and sucking, earning a moan of pleasure from the blond underneath me. Artemis pushes to move, and this time I let her, flipping her over so I'm on my hands and knees over her, looking into her eyes. What I saw scared me; a mixture of hatred, and absolute lust. They seemed embattled with each other, and I knew if I waited too long, hatred would win; I went for it. My lips crashed against hers, and tongues fought for domination as we felt each other's bodies, appreciating the other's sculpted muscles and well-toned bodies. I took the initiative yet again and after quickly ripping off my collar, I pulled her sports bra up and over her head, giving me unlimited access to her perfectly spherical breasts and perky nipples, which my hands gladly took advantage of, squeezing and pinching as our mouths returned to the battle of the century, going back and forth over whose tongue was exploring whose mouth, whose lip was being bitten, whose mouth was giving off the more erotic moans. She had one hand on my stomach, feeling my stomach while the other was entangled in my hair.

After a blissful eternity of that, Artemis decided to step up her game, slipping her hand into my pants, keeping the other entangled in my hair and inadvertently my face to hers. Initially surprised, I quickly made the same move, slipping one of my own hands down her pants and into her panties, rubbing her nub and eliciting a low moan into my mouth. We kept at our game of copying the other's move, doing more and more to each other, until she was naked, long and luscious hair radiating out from her head in waves over the mat, moaning loudly as her hands entangled themselves more into my hair. This just made me work harder, licking and nibbling around her sex more, earning even louder and more sexual moans. She was close; I knew it, she knew it, hell I bet Superboy knew it, with that super hearing of his. Poor bastard. I lapped and sucked more and more, and just as she was about to reach her climax, I stopped; I pulled away, slipped into my clothes using my super-speed.

"My name is Wally West, and now, Artemis Crock, we're even." I whispered huskily into her ear before zipping back to my room.

**A/N What did you guys think? I was planning on ending it here, but if you guys really want more, just give me ideas that you might want to see happen and I'll do my best! I appreciate the read, and have a wonderful day :)**


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